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'Big box' reduction proposed By Myles Murphy Ashland Daily Tidings Ashland's "big box" just got smaller. The city's big box ordinance would restrict developers to constructing slightly smaller buildings under a new interpretation recommended by the Ashland Planning Commission and moved forward by the Ashland City Council. The council on Wednesday discussed the ordinance in a special study session - the latest meeting in a three-year refining process. "This is kind of a never-ending process we've been in with big box," Ashland Planning Director John McLaughlin said. "Primarily we're looking for direction (from the council)." Reversing an earlier interpretation, the council gave city staff direction to clarify language in the city ordinance to apply a 45,000-square-foot limit to a new building's floor area, rather than merely its footprint. The 1992 big box ordinance limited the size of new or contiguous buildings in the city to 45,000 gross square feet. The ordinance was originally meant to apply to commercial buildings outside the downtown, but language to that effect was not included, according to city staff. Along the way, both the council and the commission have seen dramatic turnover in membership, resulting in shifting philosophies. When the council was deliberating in 2001 on the Oregon Shakespeare Festival's New Theatre and parking structure on Hargadine Street, unclear wording in the ordinance came to light. The council had to decide if the 45,000-square-foot area maximum allowed in the ordinance applied to just the footprint of a building or to the entire floor area. The council eventually chose to define 45,000-square-foot gross floor area as 45,000-square-foot footprint, then sent the interpretation back to the planning commission to be codified in an official ordinance change. Commissioners turned around and recommended the council change the interpretation of the ordinance back to apply to the total floor area of a building, rather than merely the footprint. "This is a lot closer to something I'd approve," Councilor Kate Jackson said. "But I would prefer to have more of the downtown housing (in new developments) affordable." The planning commission had frowned on a proposal for buildings as large as 75,000 square feet to be allowed if affordable housing is included in a project, and city staff has recommended that idea be scrapped. However, residents and councilors on Wednesday made it clear that affordable housing should be encouraged in the downtown, perhaps through a conditional use permit tacked on to the ordinance. "I would urge you to consider having a process that's proactive, encouraging housing in the downtown," Rogue Valley Community Development Corporation Director Ron Demele said. "Set the bar high and demand 100 percent (of housing added to oversized structures) be affordable." Resident and Commissioner Colin Swales warned against allowing huge buildings to top the 45,000-square-foot limit through conditional use permits. "People won't come to Ashland to watch plays if we make it ugly," Swales said. Resident Bill Street echoed those concerns, adding that a 300-foot building length limit in the ordinance is out of character with the building lengths of the downtown. "Three hundred feet - what kind of limit is that?" Street questioned. City staff will bring a new version of the ordinance back to the council for a public hearing and eventual consideration of approval. LINKS: DAILY TIDINGS: Main | News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Opinion | Columnists | AP News | Subscribe | Archives | Weather | Classifieds | Contact Us | Privacy REVELS: Main | Calendar | Dining | Movies | T.V. OTHER: Road Cams Copyright 2003 Ashland Daily Tidings 541.482.3456. 1661 Siskiyou Blvd., Ashland, OR 97520. Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. - Advertisers -